Republic of the Philippines

Cagayan State University

www.csu.edu.ph

PE 13 (Individual and Dual Sports)

Table Tennis

Unit I - History and Development

Timeline of Table Tennis Milestones

with thanks to the late Ron Crayden (ENG)
and his book, The Story of Table Tennis
Adaptation of lawn tennis to the dining table with improvised equipment (cork as a
1880s
ball, cigar boxes as bats and books for the net)
1883 Slazenger patent, nets for games, mentions tennis on a table
1885 James Devonshire granted provisional patent for his “Table Tennis”, abandoned 1887.
Earliest surviving action game of table tennis: David Foster’s Parlour Table Games,
England 1890
1890s
Sets produced under trade names such as Gossima, and Indoor Tennis, with Lawn
Tennis style rules
Introduction of celluloid balls to replace rubber and cork ones. The celluloid ball had
1900
the perfect bounce, and the game became a huge success
Table Tennis Association and rival Ping Pong Association formed in England;
amalgamated in 1903
1901
First books on the game published in England
The game is introduced in China via western settlements & trade missions
1904 Ping Pong craze fades, some pockets of popularity in eastern Europe continue
Revival of the game in England & Europe, though laws varied.
1922
Establishment of standard laws of the game in England
International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) initiated in Berlin
First World Championships held in London, England. ITTF Constitution adopted,
1926
along with first set of standardized Laws.
Ivor Montagu (ENG) elected Chairman
1920s Classic Hard Bat Era (European Dominance)
1926– Maria Mednyanszky (HUN) wins the World Championships five times
1931 consecutively. Mednyanszky wins 18 gold medals over-all
1930– Victor Barna (HUN) becomes five times world champion. Barna wins a record 22
1935 gold medals at world championships during his career, 40 medals overall
Tenth World Championships held in Prague, Czechoslovakia. The longest rally took
1936
place, the first point taking over two hours due to pushing style play.
A lowering of the net to 6 inches (15.24cm) encouraged more attacking style, and time
limits imposed on matches.
1937 Both women singles’ finalists defaulted at the World Championships due to
misunderstanding about time limit law. Ruth Aarons (USA) & Trude Pritzi (AUT)
declared co-champions in 2001.
1939 First World Championship held outside Europe: Cairo, Egypt
1940- Due to World War II the ITTF suspended activities, & no World Championships were
1946 held
1943 First Continental Federation founded December 12: South American Confederation.
1947 ITTF resumes activity; World Championships held in Paris, but Richard Bergmann
 Republic of the Philippines
Cagayan State University
www.csu.edu.ph

(ENG), defending World Singles Champion, not allowed to participate by Montagu

due to Bergmann accepting money for exhibition play during War years without
official permission.
Angelica Rozeanu-Adelstein (ROU) wins the World Championships six times in a
1950–
row and is the last non Asian to win the female singles title until today. 1950:
1955
Bergmann wins 4th World Singles title
1950sAge of Sponge Bat and Technology (Beginning of Asian Dominance)
Nineteenth World Championships held in Bombay, India the first to be staged in Asia.
Japan’s entry to the international scene
1952 Hiroji Satoh (JPN) became the first player to win a World Championship when using
a racket covered with thick sponge and is the first non-European winner.
Inauguration of the Asian Federation & First Asian Federation Championships
China entered the World Championships for the first time. Thick sponge bat causes
1953
major controversies for the next several years.
Ichiro Ogimura (JPN) is the epitome of Japanese dominance with technological
1954
development and physical training
Tomie Okada-Okawa (JPN) is the first female player from Asia to win the World
1956
Championships and stops the European reign on world’s female table tennis.
1957 World Championship changes to a two-year cycle
First European Championships, Budapest, Hungary. The USSR made their entry to the
1958
international scene
Rong Guotuan (CHN) is the first Chinese world champion in table tennis.
1959
Racket standardization laws enacted
1960 1st Paralympic Games in Rome, included Table Tennis
1962 First All-Africa Championships, Alexandria, Egypt
First Commonwealth Championships held in Singapore
Ping Pong Diplomacy: table tennis played an important role in international diplomacy
1971 when several teams were invited to China for a series of friendship matches after the
1971 World Championships. Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai: “Your visit to China has
opened the door for people-to-people exchanges between China and the USA.”
Stellan Bengtsson (SWE) wins the men’s singles title and heralds the start of three
1971 decades of Swedish influence, with top players such as Kjell Johansson, Mikael
Appelgren, Erik Lindh, Jan-Ove Waldner, Jörgen Persson, and Peter Karlsson.
1973 First World University Championships held in Hanover, Germany
ITTF received formal declaration of its recognition by the International Olympic
1977
Committee (IOC)
First European Championships for Paraplegics (wheelchair players) held in Stoke
1979
Mandeville, England
1980 First World Cup held in Hong Kong
World Championships held in Nova Sad, Yugoslavia. Total triumph for China, whose
1981 athletes win all of the seven gold medals
Table tennis admitted to the Olympic programme (84th session IOC)
First World Veterans’ Championships held in Gothenburg, Sweden.
1982
First World Championships for the disabled held in Stoke Mandeville, England
1985 European Youth Championships held in The Hague, Holland
Modern Olympics Era (Chinese Reign with few exceptions)
 Republic of the Philippines
Cagayan State University
www.csu.edu.ph

For the very first time, table tennis was featured in the Olympic Games, held in Seoul,
1988
South Korea
A United North & South Korea team won the Corbillon Cup at the World
1991
Championships in Chiba, Japan
Former World champion, Jan-Ove Waldner (SWE) became Olympic singles champion
1992
and reputedly, the first table tennis millionaire
World Championships held in Tianjin, China. Total triumph for China for the second
1995
time, winning seven gold medals
1996 Beginning of the ITTF Pro Tour, with events taking place worldwide
After the Olympics in Sydney, the ball size is increased to 40mm for improved
2000
television viewing
Game score changed from 21 to 11 points World Championships held in Osaka, Japan.
2001
Total triumph for China for the third time, winning all of the seven gold medals
Implementation of the ITTF World Junior Circuit (U18) and World Cadet Challenge
2002
(U15 continental team competition)
First ITTF World Junior Championships in Santiago, Chile
2003
Team Championships separated from individual events, held in alternate years
During the Olympic Games in Athens, Table Tennis ranked 5th among all sports for
2004
television viewing audience
World Championships held in Shanghai, China. Total triumph again for China,
2005
winning all of the five gold medals.
World Championships held in Bremen, Germany. The Chinese athletes complete the
2006
collection with two gold medals in the team events
World Championships held in Zagreb, Croatia. Total triumph number five for China,
winning all of the five gold medals
2007
First appearance of table tennis as a compulsory sport at the Universiade in Bangkok,
Thailand
China sweeps the Team championships in Guangzhou
2008
China wins all the Gold at the Beijing Olympic Games
2010 Table Tennis is part of the first Youth Olympic Games
China wins World Team Golds and all the Gold medals at the London Olympic
Games, and 24 of a possible 28 Golds in 7 Olympic Games.
2012
Persson (SWE), Primorac (CRO) and J-M Saive (BEL) participated in all 7 Olympic
Games.
Plastic balls used at World Championships & Olympics
2016 The Chinese again win all 4 Olympic Gold medals, and overall 28 of 32 Olympic
Golds since 1988